Middlesbrough manager Neil Warnock has backed Watford to "walk" promotion to the Premier League this season.

Warnock saw his 'Boro side end Watford's six game winning run on Monday, as Yannick Bolasie's late strike earned the Teesside club a 1-1 draw with the Hornets at The Riverside Stadium.

But despite that minor setback for Watford, it seems Warnock still believes Xisco Munoz' side will secure an immediate return to the top-flight of English football this season.

Speaking after that stalemate on Monday about the promotion race, Warnock was quoted by The Watford Observer as saying: “I think these two (Norwich and Watford) will walk it two of the best in the league. I don’t see many of the other teams winning five or six games, so everyone else is fighting for the play-offs really.

“Watford are absolutely flying, six games on the trot before today. We had to play as if we were going away from home, structurally we were proper.

“It might have looked negative but they’d have passed through us. We tried to catch them on the break as much as we could.”

Following that draw with 'Boro, Watford are currently second in the Championship table, five points behind league leaders Norwich, and ten points clear of the play-off spots, albeit having played two more games than third-placed Brentford.

Next up for Watford is the visit of another top six hopeful, Reading, to Vicarage Road on Friday night.

The Verdict

I do think Warnock is probably right about Watford with what he is saying here.

When you look at the momentum that they have from their recent run of form, and the level of talent they have in their squad, they should have more than enough to secure their return to the Premier League.

However, it should be noted that they do not exactly have an easy run-in, with a number of other promotion hopefuls still to play before the close of the campaign.

As a result, the next few weeks will certainly be a test of Watford's promotion credentials, and it will be interesting to see if they can live up to those expectations between now and the end of the season.